2009-07-04 Emily's Tandem jump and other fun. (Jumps 85-89)

I had decided to go mountain biking at Hollenbeck Canyon with some friends on Friday because I knew I was going to be taking my friend Emily to do a tandem jump on the morning of the 4th. I packed up my tent and my air mattress and all the trappings of home, along with my bike and headed to Jamul. After a beautiful late afternoon ride with Bryan F an, and dinner with Gardner, I headed back to Skydive San Diego to set up my tent and go to sleep. As I was laying out my tent, Max came out of his room, and I offered to share a bottle of vodka with him if he helped me set up the tent. In short order, the tent was erected, the air mattress was inflated and everything was laid out for a good night's sleep. The bottle of Belvedere was opened, and the conversation was flowing. After about 8 shots, I was ready to lay down, so I bid a good night and headed to the tent. I awoke early, as usual, took down the tent and packed everything back into the car. I then headed off to Eastlake to get some coffee before Emily and Blaze would arrive. They got there just before 9am, and I sent Emily off to fill out the waiver while I performed the financial side of the bargain. Blaze was the nervous one. Emily told me that Blaze had come into her room to wake her up and was crying and gave her a little speech about how if she something happened to her that she was loved. While I was waiting for my CC to be processed, Blaze was mentioned how charged everyone seemed to be. I looked around, but really, the only one who was charged was her--it was kind of funny.

Jump 85
For this jump, I just played by myself. Flips and turns and the like. Got to wave to Emily before jumping. Great landing.

Jump 86
2-way with Dave. Linked exit. Belly 360 L, Dock, 360 R, Dock, Side-body, Track. Bumpy air. Soft landing. First jump on new suit.
Jump 87
2-way head down w/ Ausie Matt - 231mph!

Jump 88
Solo sit practice.

Jump 89

Solo sit practice.

2009-06-06 - 2009-06-07 Water Training, B-License, camping and jumps 74-78

2009-06-06

Water training apparently doesn't happen with as much regularity as is needed, so when I saw that Nick Roti was putting on the class I jumped at the opportunity. It was one of the only things I needed for my B-License, so it made sense to take the class.

The B-License is a bit of a strange certification. It doesn't really change anything except for allowing me to jump at night. To be honest, I don't really have any desire or need to jump at night. There's something about being able to see the ground on the final approach for landing that makes jumping in the dark seem crazy. Maybe after I've got several hundred jumps it will be more interesting, but until then, I'll stick to daylight jumps.

The only useful part of the B-License, as far as I can tell, is that once I have 100 jumps I can take a Coach course and become a skydiving coach. That effectively makes skydiving a job, and as such, I can include it in the services I offer through my business, Zen Monkey Adventure Services. Having skydiving as a ZMAS offering means that I can deduct my business expenses (milage, gear, training costs, etc.) on my taxes, thereby reducing my taxible income.

The water training course was intended to start at 4pm, but things being what they are, we didn't get started until around 5. After a brief stint in the classroom learning about different water related issues, we got into our cars and drove to the "College area" where Donald H. has an appartment complex with a swimming pool. Jake rode with me, and we had some interesting conversations about socialization, politics and other stuff on the way.

I was selected to be the first to jump into the pool. The best part about that was that I didn't have to put on a cold, wet rig. Once I was in the pool, they threw the canopy over me and I had to first surface, pushing up with my fist to create an air space. The second part was I needed to submerge again and extract myself from under the canopy. It was fairly easy in the pool, but I could see how it would be easy to get tangled in all the lines in moving water. Yeay, I finished the last requirement for my B-License!

After everyone was finished with their time in the pool, pizza and beer were served. Unfortunately for me, no one thought to order a pizza without all sorts of dead animals on it, or beer that wasn't fizzy and yellow. So I just drank some of the beer I brought with me.

After a bit of socializing, Jake and I headed back to SDSD. It was getting dark, so I was really appreciative of Jake's assistance in setting up my tent. After it was up, I bid him farewell and went about getting my air mattress inflated and the other comforts of home into the tent. The night was beautiful, with the sounds of frogs and birds and a full moon overhead. I enjoyed some fine potato vodka and laid on the air mattress looking out the window at the moon and the few clouds. Somewhere around 1am I finally fell asleep.

The sun came up early, waking me around 5:15am. I certainly wasn't ready to wake up, but there's no way to hide from the sun in a tent. Still, I tried to hide, covering my head with my sleeping bag--prefering to suffer from over-heating than suffer from a lack of sleep. I dozed in and out of sleep until around 7:30. After getting dressed and grabbing some breakfast from the cooler, I broke down the camping gear and packed it away in the car.

People were starting to arrive at the DZ by this time and before I knew it, I was manifested on the first load of the day.

Jump 74
Solo jump. I practiced sitflying with limited success. There were a lot of clouds, so I deployed higher than I would have liked, above the clouds. It was really cool to be able to clearly see the jumpers below me in freefall highlighted against the white clouds. I had to come through the clouds under canopy, so I went into a right hand spiral. It was scary but really beautiful to go through them, and when I came out underneath them, it was like a opening my eyes. I had a long landing.

Jump 75
Another solo jump. It was still cloudy even after a weather hold, and I didn't realize we were so far west. Again, I opened a bit higher because I realized I was at the southwest corner of the lake. I wasn't certain if I'd be able to make it back, so I put myself into a rear riser glide and tucked into a ball and rode the winds back. I made it to the DZ, but just barely, making an arc rather than a good landing pattern. The landing was soft even though the air was really bumpy.

Jump 76
3-way hybrid attempt with Jake and Ausie Matt. Jake and I went out linked and Matt tried to dive down to us. He took too long to dock, making it to us just as we got to 6000 feet. So, we broke off and tracked. The canopy ride was pretty bumpy, but I had a good, soft landing.
Jump 77
Another solo jump, but this time bellyflying. I took a moment to just look out at the horizon instead of down at the ground. It was really beautiful to see the ocean and San Diego, Tijuana, Chula Vista and the mountains. I took it all in, in a way I've never done before. The air was still bumpy under canopy, but I had a good landing.

Jump 78
Another solo bellyflying jump. I was pretty tired so I just did some flips, turns and barrel roles. Good landing.

2009-May-2 and 2009-May-3 Cinco de Mayo Boogie (Jumps 48-55)

It was time for my first Boogie--the Cinco de Mayo Boogie at Skydive San Diego--and I was really bummed. The weather in Jamul was forecast to be dismal on Saturday with lots of clouds and even a chance of rain, but was supposed to clear up by late morning on Sunday.

Saturday
I checked the weather around 9am, and I checked for a Facebook post about the weather, but there were no encouraging signs. So, I started my day not really knowing what I was going to do.

By mid-afternoon, after some shopping and other assorted activities, I decided I'd make my way down to the DZ, thinking that maybe I would even stay the night. But, then I remembered that I had not brought anything to make sleeping comfortable, so I assumed I'd just go for the party and then head home.

When I got to the DZ around 3pm, the sun was shining and the winds were light, and apparently had been that way since around 11am. I decided I was going to jump, so I give Sarah my CC, picked up a rig and jumpsuit and walked toward the packing area. Franz was there, and being that he's a new diver too, I asked him if he wanted to jump with me. We agreed and we got ourselves manifested onto the next load.

Just as I was getting things together, Katerina C. asked us what we were doing, and asked us if we wanted to do a 4-way that she was trying to organize. Apparently she hasn't had much experience organizing, so there were a lot of false starts in terms of planning, but in the end we figured it out. We'd exit as a 3-way with a floater that would swoop and dock. Jan was to be the floater since he had the most experience, and the rest of us would be in the base. We would then break the base into an accordian and switch back and forth between the accordian and the star. We dirt-dived several times, but I still wasn't really certain if everyone knew what we were supposed to do. We got our 5 minute call and suited up and headed to the plane.

Jump 48
The 3-Way exit was OK, but Jan took forever to find a slot. He circled around us two or three times before he finally docked next to me. Katerina gave the nod and we started to go into the accordian. Almost immediately Franz broke off and couldn't get back to the group. At some point I broke off, I don't recall how it happened, but I tried to get back, but wasn't able. I was below Katerina and Jan, and no amount of trying to grab air seemed to slow my fallrate enough to get back to level with them. At 6K, when it was obvious redocking wasn't going to happen, I waved off, turned and tracked. I had a great landing, with very good accuracy (10ft.)

I got myself manifested on the next load and was excited about going up again, and Katerina was organizing another jump. But the clouds rolled in and it became evident that no more jumping was going to be happening, but that meant that the party was about to begin.

The party got going around 7pm when the DJ and food arrived. There weren't many people at the party, which was kind of disappointing given that it was my first Boogie. Most of the instructors took off just after eating, and I knew few of of those who remained. Regardless, I had brought several bottles of Pliny the Elder, so I enjoyed the beer while everyone else was busy hitting the keg and I enjoyed the conversations with the folks around me.

Sunday
It was bright and sunny around 9am when I arrived at the DZ. As I walked toward the office I heard Sarah announce that load 2 was on a 10 minute call. I proferred my CC, ordered up a day rental and had my jumps put on the day's tab. I grabbed a rig and wandered over to the fun-jumper's packing area. That's when I saw Jake K. We talked about jumping together, but less than a few seconds after we agreed what we were going to do, Matt Lewis asked us if we wanted to jump with him. We made a plan to do a train exit with Matt at the head, Jake in the middle and I at the back side. After a few dirt dives, we got ourselves manifested and waited around for the call.

Jump 49

3-way with Jake and Matt Lewis.
Train exit.
Got whipped around. Jake dropped and I held on to him. We whipped around for a bit and then I let go of him. Matt and I docked. Jake came in, docked on matt, but couldn't get both arms.
Jake lost it again and Matt and I did a Horney Gorrilla before finally breaking off and tracking.

Jump 50
6-Way Hybrid organized by Matt Lewis.
3 in base (Jake K, myself and Matt. )

Exit went well, we stayed together.

3 divers tried to swoop and grab ahold of our leg straps. Only two got in. After it was clear she wasn't going to make it, the other two went into their sit which dramatically sped things up.

Jump 51
12-Way Hybrid.

Jake, I, Rigo and Shad were the base. Matt L., Erika, Mu, and one other jumper docked to leg straps. 4 Stingers came in and docked to leg grips. The four on the leg straps went into a sit. The change in velocity was incredible! The stingers broke off at 5500, the sitflyers at 5000 and the base at 4500. I turned, tracked and pulled at 3500

Jump 52
Jake and I. Julien H. came along to watch.

Jake and I tried to do a propeller, and finally got it a bit, but I felt like I was having to throw him around to make it work.

After we broke, I docked with Julien briefly.

Jump 53
Julien and I. Horney Gorilla exit and fly. Then we broke and I tried a sit, but couldn't get into it.

Good landing, about 30 feet from target.

Jump 54
Allie G, David G, me.

The exit was horrible, with Allie flipping over and landing top of me, back to back. I flipped us around and tried to get us into a propeller.

We weren't turning very much in the propeller, and I was trying to make make the spin go faster. After a brief stint, I undocked and David swooped in and docked with Allie.

With Allie being significantly lighter than me, her fall rate was much slower than mine. She and David were above me by about 20 feet leaving me to wait for them to come to me while I was trying to grab as much air as possible, but we never made it. Finally, just before break-off, David swooped down to me, tapped my hand and we broke off.

Horrible, long landing.

Jump 55
Solo jump with flips and turns.

Bumpy air on landing.

26/April/2009 - Jumps 42-47 (Canopy Skills Course)

This morning morning didn't start like everyother Sunday morning. This one started on last night as I attended a pre-Beltane festival and ended up with some sort of food poisoning. The pain was unbearable and kept me from sleeping for more than about 3 hours.

So, when the alarm went off at 5am, I was nowhere near ready to get moving. I had to get my ass moving though because the canopy skills class was scheduled to begin at 8:30. I got my shit together and was out of the house by 7am. I stopped for some coffee, but otherwise, headed straight to the DZ. I pulled in to the parking lot a bit after 8am, and as was to be expected, the waiting began.

I think it was around 10 by the time everyone showed up for the class and things got moving. The plan was to do five 5000' hop & pop jumps to practice landing skills and one full altitude (13,000') hop & pop to practice canopy flight skills.

We got ourselves manifested and geared and started our first run. There were eight of us, so we got organized into jump order based on wing loading. As a result, I was third out the door for the first four jumps. I was impressed as I watched the first jumper exit. He seemed to snap into the air and present himself perfectly. On the other hand, I seemed to be all over the place, so rather than try to fight it, I just went with it and enjoyed the brief freefall.

Our landings were being video taped, and after each one we gathered to review what we were doing right and what we were doing wrong. I seem to have new-diveritis. I flare too high which makes the landings a bit harder than they need to be.

My high-pull was a lot of fun, although it was VERY cold. About a quarter of the way into the canopy flight the communication system between Matt and I went dead, so, I couldn't figure out what to do. I was hoping Matt would lead by example, but he kept flying behind me. After a while, I think he understood that I couldn't hear him, so he moved in front of me and showed me what he wanted me to do.  After practicing front and rear riser turns, front riser descents, stalls and glides, Matt maneuvered his canopy right next to mine to where the edges were touching. It was interesting to feel the burble and be flying so close to someone else.

By this point I was FREEZING. My hands weren't working very well, but the view was incredible. It was late in the afternnon, so the sun was turning orange and the ocean was glistening with the sun light. At 2500', the in-air communication system finally started working again, just in time to hear Matt say, "2500', I'm out of here." Unfortunately, by the time I got down the video review was already over and everyone was gearing up to head up again.

I had one more hop & pop after my high pull. After waiting for my rig to be packed, I got mysel f on a load. It was a bit of a disappointment after having so much fun flying for so long, but a jump is a jump and I'd do it all over again.




 

2009-Apr-18 Jumps 37-41

#37
I did a diving exit, and immediately tucked my legs in and grabbed my knees causing me to do flip after flip after flip. It was a blast! After that, I tried to sitfly. I was able to get it for a little bit, but then slipped onto my back and did some barrel rolls.

I downsized to a 210 sq. ft. canopy from the 230, and the time under canopy was noticably shortened. I did do some corkscrews on the way down which was a lot of fun. I also played a bit with the front risers to descend on final when I realized I was going to overshoot my target significantly. I ended up about 30 feet away.

#38
This was my first jump on the Caravan as opposed to the Otter. It's a lot smaller, with no seats--only some beams on the floor that jumpers had to straddle. My buddy Brian F. was sitting in the right-hand seat, next to the pilot because he's been hired as a pilot. It was fun to see someone I knew in the cockpit. I also had the opportunity to chat with a guy, who was trying a new wingsuit, about what it's like to fly a wingsuit. I am now more thrilled about getting to the point where I can try one myself.

I was the second to last person out of the plane, with the wingsuit jumper the only one left after me. Again, on this jump, I did a diving exit with tuck. Lots of flips again, and I was able to keep myself from tipping over on my side like on the previous jump. The flips were very fun.

I had forgotten to tighten my sunglass keeper, and so my glasses were moving all over my face. It was very uncomfortable, not to mention distracting. So, even though I had plenty of time to do other things, I ended up just arching and enjoying as much of the fall as possible.

I didn't do much under canopy. Again, with the 210, the canopy ride felt too short for me. I guess I'll have to start braking more to extend the ride.

During the landing I went into half brakes a bit to high, so there wasn't much lift to be had when I went to full brakes. As a result, the landing was a bit hard.

#39
I did a diving exit again, but this time I wanted to get stable immediately. Everything worked just right so I decided to ditch some of the stability to try out other things. I put my hand or arm into various positions to see what would happen. It was fun to get flipped and spun around. I went into a sit for a little bit, but quicly lost it and went onto other things. All in all, this jump was sit, spin and rock! Super sweet jump.

#40
Back on the Caravan again for this jump, and this time, I was the last one out of the plane. I went back to the diving exit with tuck because it was so much fun. Flips, turns, and fall rate were what I worked on. The canopy ride was fun and I had a great landing, 5' away from the target.

#41 - A License Checkout Jump
When I first arrived at the DZ, I told Blake I wanted to do my A-License checkout jump. I had really wanted to get it done on my second jump so I could have the rest of the day to play. Unfortunately, there were a gazillion tandems scheduled, so he couldn't do it until late in the day. That sucked, but I figured I'd just have to jump all day long, maybe getting to do a bandit with Rocco or a simulated checkout jump with Donald. Things just didn't work out that way though. Donald was busy filming Pack'D all day and Rocco and I either were on a flight full of instructors or he had arranged to jump with someone else. After four jumps I was getting a bit tired, so I tracked down Blake to see if we could get it done. Finally, he gave the thumbs up, and I set the manifest team into action. The moment of truth had arrived after a day of jumping.

At first Blake started by asking me to tell him everything I knew about the parachute rig I was going to use. I wasn't exactly certain what he wanted me to tell him, so I just started babbling about this and that. I guess I was giving him all the information he needed, so after a few minutes he said to get my rig on and meet him over by the packing barn.

He came out in his rig and asked me if I knew what all the different aspects to the pre-jump and jump that I needed to accomplish to get my license. I threw out a few things, at which point he interrupted me and told me all the things I needed to do, and the criteria by which I needed to pass. Of course, in typical Blake style, (or is that lack of style) he bluntly stated that if I fucked up A, B, or C, that I'd fail even if I did everything else perfectly. We finished going over the skills I needed to demonstrate and then we started in earnest.

The first order of business was a gear check on him. Of course, I knew that he was going to try to trip me up, but there's not much to a gear check that I'd miss. So, the first thing I noticed was that his chest strap was just looped through the buckle, but not properly. So, I pointed that out and continued with the check.

His rig was significantly different than any of the student gear, plus, I normally would have done the gear check of the back first and then the front, from top to bottom both times. However, now I was doing things backwards, so I was a bit disjointed, skipping from here to there. I covered everything, but it wasn't smooth. He mentioned to not just check all the things that are there, but all the things that weren't too. That was a bit tough, because I had never encountered a rig that didn't look like all the student rigs. He doesn't jump with an AAD or an RSL. I assumed that because there wasn't the window showing the AAD, that there wasn't one. But the RSL I completely didn't think about. The disjointed order probably was the cause of my lack of recognition, but the fact that the rig was already on him rather than sitting on the ground in front of me could have had an impact too. In any event, I finished the gear check and we headed out to get on the plane. We were joined by Candice, who was shooting video of my jump.

On the ride to altitude, I tried to calm myself and make it seem like I wasn't nervous by asking Blake about any mountain biking he's been doing recently. After a terse statement about a ride done early in the week, and a lack of any interest in anything about me, I just looked out the window and enjoyed the ride.

We were the last to leave the plane. Candice climbed out onto the camera step. Blake got into a rear floating position, and gave the count. I dived out after them, but somehow, I completely flubbed the exit and spun around. Recognizing that, I did a fast flip and got stable. Then, I descended to where they were and came up to Blake. When I was a few feet in front of him, I did my front and back flips. Then I docked for a second, let go and did a 360 to the left, docked again and did a 360 to the right. I was just about to dock again when he waved me off. We were still above 6000', so I'm not certain why he waved me off, but I turned, tracked and pulled by 4000'.

The canopy ride was nice, but nothing spectactular. I did a few corkscrews and then I was at 1000' and ready to get into the landing pattern. The wind had completely died, and I turned a bit soon into final, so I knew I was going to be long. I grabbed the front-risers to lose some altitude, but I was a bit scared to drop too much. I got to about 20' and went to half-brakes. Unforunately, that was way too high, but I held it until just at the ground. Of course, because I slowed down so much, I didn't have the speed I needed when I went to a full flare and had to PLF.

We went into the office and Candice put the video on the big screen. We watched the whole thing and then he asked me how I thought I did. I had done everything I was supposed to do, even if it wasn't as smooth as I'm capable of doing, so I knew I didn't have any problems. He gave me a few pointers on how to do some things better (like my tracking), but told me I had passed.

So, now I've got my A-License. I figure in a few weeks time I'll get my B-License, since I already have 41 jumps. So, I'm not even going to send it in until I finish the B-License (plus that way I don't have to pay for the A-License).

2009-Apr-12 Jumps 33-36, A-License Written Exam

I had not planned on jumping today. I had other things to do, but poor weather yesterday threw a monkey wrench into the mix. I had called the DZ several times yesterday to see if conditions there were amenable to jumping, but the clouds never cleared. In Leucadia there was scattered rain showers and gloomy, gray, low-hanging clouds. So, mountain biking wasn't really an option

Jump 33
Bandit 3-way attempt with Rocco and Mitch. It was planned that they would jump out and I would follow immediately afterwards. We were to be the first out of the plane, and I was sitting at the end of the bench, facing backward so I wouldn't be noticed by any of the instructors on the plane. Rocco and Mitch jumped, and wanting to make it appear like I wasn't jumping with them, I waited too long to jump. I did a diving exit, and got stable, but that slowed me down a bit too much. I tracked down to them, slowed down and then tried to get into position. Unfortunately, in trying to get into position, my fall rate increased too much and I descended below them. I slowed my fall rate and waited for Rocco and Mitch to come down to me, but then they dropped too quickly, so I ended up above them again. I tried to glide into the dock, but was moving forward before moving down. I misjudged what I needed to do to get to them and ended up going over the center of them, my food hitting someone as I glided past. At that point I turned, waved off since we were at about 7000 feet and there was little reason to keep trying at that point.  We tracked west. Just after I pulled, I see someone fall right in front of me, maybe 30 feet away, and pull. Kind of scary! I was really long on the landing.

Jump 34
Solo jump. Diving exit. Stable immediately. Donald asked me later what my intent was with the exit, and when I said to get stable, he said I was perfect. Did front and back flips and barrel rolls. The canopy ride was fun. Landed 10 feet from my target.

Jump 35
Solo jump. Diving exit with fall rate drills and 360s. Nice canopy spins.

Jump 36
Donald asked me about my plan for the jump. I didn't have one, so he suggested I work on instability. He told me to grab my knees as soon as I jumped out and to allow several flips before becoming stable and then going into several barrel rolls.

On exit, I grabbed my knees and went through 5 flips before opening up to get stable. It was a lot of fun, so I immediately went into barrel rolls, going through 4 of those before then getting stable again. Did some fast 360s and fall rate drills.

The canopy ride was lots of fun, with some great spins with the toggle as far down as I could hold it.

On final, I used some front riser to improve accuracy and ended up about 5 feet from my target.

A-License Written Test
After my last jump, I decided I'd try my hand at the A-License written test. Blake gave me the answer sheet and exam before he headed off to do a jump. I sat down and started to answer the questions. It was pretty easy, especially after reading sections 3 and 5 of the Skydiver's Information Manual. I ended up missing 3 out of 50 questions, so with that passed, now all I have left is my check jump, which I will do on Sunday the 19th.

2009-Apr-05 -- Canopy Skills Course with Matt Lewis

I was up early again because I needed to be at SDSD by 8:30 for a Canopy Skills course with Matt Lewis. It was a beautiful day a with clear sky at the coast. That gave me some concern because the forcast had called for winds out of the East, and that means Santa Ana conditions. Sure enough, as I rolled into the DZ the winds were causing the windsock to dance around with radical changes in direction. Yep; the Santa Ana conditions were strong so I didn't have much expectation that we would be jumping.

Matt rounded us all up, and informed us that we'd do the classroom portion today and if conditions changed, which he didn't expect, we'd jump. Otherwise, we'd do the practical portion on another date. We crowded into a small room and Matt started his lecture. He covered so many different things, and it was incredibly informative.

After the classroom portion ended, I found Donald, and we went over the A-License skills completion card and he signed off almost everything. At this point, the only things I have left to do is take the written test and the checkout jump. Donald said he'd go on two practice checkout jumps with me next week!  Then I'll be licensed and ready to do jumps with other people!!! Yeah.

I have to say that I really appreciate people like Donald and Rocco who even with thousands or hundreds of jumps respectively, they are willing to jump with newbies like myself, as well as provide feedback and tips and techniques that the paid instructors don't bother to pass along or don't have the time or focus to do so unless they're getting paid.

While Donald and I were going over the A-License skills card, some of the instructors started playing with a canopy in the wind. When they were unable to get much lift, someone had the bright idea to get the lawnmower out and tie a rope from the back of it to the harness. Soon, Matt Lewis was soaring about 20 feet above the ground, with a constant stuggle to keep the canopy overhead and himself from crashing to the ground. After a little while the canopy was somehow released and the people who were holding the rope were getting rope burns, so the canopy ended up in a tree. Then, a Chinese Fire Drill ensued as people were climbing the tree, on top of the building, pulling, falling, etc. Then Oliver, the helicopter pilot came up with the idea of using the helicopter to lift the canopy out of the tree. But there was concern that the building was too close to the tree so they started to harness up someone who would repel from the helicopter. Thankfully, intelligence prevailed and using the helicopter in the high winds was deemed a poor idea. After several more minutes, the canopy was finally pulled free from the tree.

I stayed around for a little while longer, and then decided to head home.

2009/April/04 - Jumps 28-32

I rolled into SDSD at around 11:20; much later than I had ever intended. On the other hand, I had a handfull of errands that have needed to be dealt with for several weeks, so it was worthwhile to get those out of the way.

As I walked into the DZ, I saw Donald H's smiling face, which instantly lit me up. The first thing he asked was "what happened to 9am?" Yeah, yeah, at least I got those damn errands done! He pulled me off to the side and we discussed the next jump--a coach jump with him. The plan was for me to do a diving exit, dock with him, do some 360s and fall rate drills.

Jump #28
The ride to altitude seemed to take quite a while. I was sitting on the jump seat at the back of the plane, next to the door, which allowed me to see the ground as it slowly became more and more distant. When it was time to open the door, and the cold air rushed in, I was instantly brought back to the present. After a few groups of divers left the plane, Donald went out to the camera step. I got myself into the doorway and Donald gave the count. On "go" I was out the door, following him down, but I didn't kick my but enough and ended up flipping. I very quickly regained stability and Donald was right there with me. I came to him and we docked as planned. After a few seconds, he let go of me, I backed up a bit, did a 360 to the right and then docked again. Then, I backed up again, did a 360 to the left and then we went into some fall rate drills. He instantly slowed his fall rate, and I was pretty good, but I needed to slow myself down significantly more to achieve horizontal parity with him. After a few seconds, he dropped down to where I was and we docked again. At that point, he very visually adjusted his body position in such a way that it caused us to start turning. Noticing what he had done, I did the same thing, resulting in the speed of our "propeller" increasing very rapidly. After about 4-5 revolutions the centrifugal force of our spin was very strong. When he let go of me, I was flung though the air, but I quickly recovered stability. What FUN!!!

At that point, my audible altimeter was reminding me that we had reached 6000 feet, so I waved off, and tracked away, finally waiving off again and pulling at just under 4000 feet.

The canopy ride was fun with me corkscrewing almost all the way to 1000 feet. I got into the landing pattern, and as I came into land, my speed was pretty quick. I realized I was going to be a bit short of my intended target, so I went into a braked approach, and just as I did the final flare, a gust of wind did something weird with the canopy and I was jerked off to the left. I landed a bit hard but went into a PLF.

Jump #29
After dropping my canopy off at the packing barn and reviewing the video Donald had shot, I got myself another rig and manifested for the next load. I only have 5 minutes to gear check and get myself ready, so I moved quickly. Another solo jump, but I was excited to just be getting air time. I did a floating exit and pulled it off cleanly and was instantly solid and stable.

I did some 360s, flips and barrel rolls, staying on heading, finally pulling at 4000 feet.

Again, I corkscrewed downward under canopy, enjoying the ride. The landing on this canopy was smooth and soft, and I looked forward rather than down at the ground.

Jump #30
On the next jump I again did a diving exit and was stable quickly. No flip this time as I kicked myself in the butt and threw my arms out, doing a slight paddling to make certain I didn't flip.

I did some fall rate drills on the way down, but nothing much else. The canopy ride was nice and fun and the landing was smooth, soft and withing 10 feet from my target, although I had to use the brakes to get closer to the target.

Jump #31
The next jump was my Hop & Pop coached jump with Katie H. Around 5000 feet, we opened the door and after Katie spotted, I got into the doorway and got ready to jump. By the time we were out the door, we'd reached almost 6000 feet. Unfortunately, I had been holding the internal floater bar, so when I jumped, the contortion in my body made me turn and flip. But, I was very quickly stable and threw the pilot chute by 4 seconds. The canopy was open by 5400 feet, and I added a whopping 8 seconds of freefall to my time.

I had a decent landing, about 20 feet from my target.

Jump #32
I wanted to do a sunset jump, but the number of jumpers at the dropzone was getting sparce, so I switched my jump to the next load, about 30 minutes before the sun would have been in the spot where I wanted it. I was jumping the old crappy rig that I had used on the first jump. I look forward to having my own rig so that I don't have to deal with the rental crap any more.

On the way to the plane and on the trip to Altitude, I got to chat with Vanessa. It was interesting because she was telling me her story of independence in such a way that it seemed to me like she was trying to impress me.

The load was filled with instructors; I was the only non-staff jumper. As such, I was the last one out of the plane. I watched Vanessa and Chad and a few others in their fall and spotted to make certain that we were still over the DZ. I then did a diving exit, kicked my butt, swam a little and remained stable. Even though I saw the bottom of the plane, I managed to prevent myself from flipping.

On this jump, I just did some fall rate drills, and according to my computer, I managed to get my descent rate down to a solid 90mph.

I pulled at 4000 feet. Once the canopy was open and I did a control check, I tried to stall the canopy. I couldn't get it to stall no matter what I did. I just figured it was because of the size of the canopy. I went into some corkscrew turns, first to the left and then to the right. I entered into the landing pattern as expected, and upon final approach I went to half brakes to glide a bit further toward the target I set. I didn't notice much of a change in the projected landing spot though. When I was just above the ground, I flared, but got a very minimal amount of lift, and that made the last landing of the day another PLF! Damn!

In all, I had a great day of jumping, and enjoyed my interactions with Donald, Jake, Rocco, Vanessa and a few others.

2009-03-28 Jumps 23-27

I started the day off slowly, lounging in bed until almost 7; for me that's late. A slow breakfast and the this' and the that's which conspire to pass the largest possible amount of time while accomplishing very little, made the process of leaving the house extended until well after 9am. I got the car packed with all the things I was going to want for the day--food, clothes, skydiving gear, beer, ice, dark chocolate... When I finally got my ass into gear and moved out, I still needed to stop and buy some coffee.

After a semi-quick stop at the Pannikin, with the Saturday morning line starting to form, I headed to Skydive San Diego with a combination of coffee to drink and a Theobroma cacao confection to eat. When I arrived, the parking lot was already full. I headed right to the office to pay for my rental, then, went to see if they had a 230 square foot canopy. I was in luck, and got the last one.

I got myself onto the next load, which didn't give me much time, but I didn't need much time. While I was going through the check on the rig, I couldn't get the Cypres to turn on. I tried and tried, but nothing was happening. So, I took it back to the gear room, and the gear bitch pressed the thing once and it started working. Damn, I felt really silly, but better to be silly than stupid.

Jump 23

It was a bit chilly, but I decided that I would jump without gloves, a move I would regret when I got to the door of the aircraft at altitude. We were only at 10,000 feet, and I was third in line to get out the door. I did a diving exit, and even though I was certain I was doing everything correctly, I was quickly flipping heals over head. I went with it, did a few more flips, then got stable and did a few more flips. I just had fun with the freefall. The canopy ride down was fun because I did some nice corkscrew turns that really threw me out with a lot of force. The landing was bumpy, with a bunch of turbulence. I don't know why, but I was looking at a pretty hard landing, right in front of a gaggle of instructors, but somehow, I pulled it off, sliding on my feet before coming to a stop. It was one of those freak things where the I somehow pulled it off, and even got a comment from one of the instructors about it being a good landing. If only he knew...

Jump 24

By this time, my ground buddy Jake had shown up, and I started to pack my chute. I was glad Jake was there because I still haven't gotten the flaking thing down yet. Right in the middle of the pack job Blake comes over and tells me that I can't pack my own chute unless I'm faster, because there aren't enough rental chutes available. I was miffed that he would say something like that, since I had rented the chute for the day. He didn't say anything about getting a refund when I rented it for a day two weeks back, but only got to do 2 jumps due to the weather. Oh well... I got the chute packed and manifested on a load 35 minutes away. In the interim, I grabbed some water and chatted with Jake and some other folks.

On this jump, I brought my gloves. When we got to altitude, 13K this time, I was again 3rd in line to exit. I did a diving exit again, but still flipped like a loopy kid. I was getting rather annoyed at my inability to get stable right out of the plane. I played around with some turns and tracking and flips again, and pulled at 4.3k. The canopy ride was fun again, with more turns. This time the landing was picture perfect and within 15 feet of the target.

Jump 25

It took quite a while for jump 25 because I agreed to go with Rocco to pick up some fuel for the helicopter. His GPS took us the long way around, so a 5 minute drive turned into an hour and a half. It was ok though, since the friendship and interaction was enjoyable.

I had turned my chute into the packing barn, because I wanted to jump quickly. Ghouli apparently got right on it which was nice. But, since I wasn't there, it didn't make any difference. Fortunately, I was able to get the same rig when I got back. I got manifested on a load with little more than time to zip my jumpsuit, do a gear check and put the rig on.

The jump was fairly routine. I did a diving exit and as hard as I tried to will it not to happen, I still got flipped over onto my back. I recovered quickly, but it was really frustrating. The rest of the freefall included flips, 360's, a good opening, and a really fun canopy ride followed by a great landing. It didn't get any better than that.

Jump 26
My own pack job again, with some help from Jake again. Rocco conspired to jump with me, so he got us onto a fun-load with the intent that we would exit last. He floated while I dived. Again, I flipped over, and in the rapid back-to-the-earth freefall, I quickly lost sight of him. I just kind of hung out, slowing my fall rate, and he zoomed down in front of me. I then went to do the dock. I docked without any trouble. We flew the dock for a bit and then I undocked, did a 360 to the left and then a 360 to the left. By this time, my computer was telling me we were at 6000 feet, so I broke off, turned and tracked and pulled at 4300 feet.

The canopy ride was nice, but I was to the north of the dropzone, so I headed over the lake and around to the other side of the lake.

On the debrief, Rocco pointed out that I kept my legs straight when I jumped out which was the cause of my flipping.

Jump 27
I sent the rig in for packing and I enjoyed myself with conversations. After the rig was packed, I got manifested, again with only a few minutes to spare. This time I did a diving exit and was instantly stable. I kicked my feet back and put my arms out and no flip! I did some 360s, barrel rolls. I pulled at 4300 again.

Lots of corkscrew toggle turns on the way down and a good landing.

2009-03-21 Jump 22

The morning started early even though the night ended late, and a bit of a fiasco ensued. I was scheduled to attend a trail building seminar and trail-work session sponsored by the San Diego Mountain Biking Association and the International Mountain Bicycling Association. The seminar started at 8am, so with my eyes still bleary from too little sleep, I arrived at the Elfin Forest fire station just before the speakers got things into gear. The presentation was interesting, but I was amazed at the poor presentation skills of the two trail-building experts from IMBA. After all, they do this presentation over and over again, but they were very unpolished, reading from the slides and doing so very undynamically.

In any event, after their talk, at around 11, a lunch was served, and given the lack of a vegan option, I decided to just sit in my car and read my mail and rest. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, a good chunk of time had passed, and so had all of the vehicles taking trail workers. Since the work site was some distance away from anywhere I could get my car, I decided that it was better to just head home.

When I got there, I asked my friend Adrienne, who had been visiting from San Francisco, whether she wanted to go jumping if the weather was good at Skydive San Diego. It was cloudy on the coast, but a quick call to SDSD revealed that they were jumping under a clear sky. So, Adrienne and I loaded ourselves into the car and headed down the freeway.

The journey took the normal hour, and we arrived around 1:45pm. I got Adrienne set up with her paper work to do a tandem and pointed out which instructor she wanted--she expressed the desire to have a hunky-navy-seal, and that's exactly what she got. The unfortunate thing was that we had four loads to wait, during which time I could have gotten a few jumps, but instead I sat around, chatting with Adrienne and Jake.

Finally, after the long wait, it was our time to get into the sky. Adrienne had her Navy Seal, Larry, and I was all geared up, so I asked Blake to watch my landing for accuracy and then we made the journey to the plane. I was the only fun jumper on board, so I was the last person on the plane. Fortunately, the plane wasn't completely full, and I didn't have to sit on the floor or the edge of the seat. The climb to altitude took longer than I remember from past flights, but the view was wonderful. When the pilot cut the engines, and the red "standby" light came on, I opened up the door. I stuck my head out the door and spotted the end of the runway far below but some distance off. I kept checking the location and the green "go" light. Finally, the go light was lit and we were in an ideal location, so I prepared myself to jump.

Jump 22
I did a diving exit from the plane, wanting to be stable right off the bat, but my feet and lets ended up going over my head, putting me into a backflip. I tried to continue the flip, and ended up belly down, but a bit unstable. I arched, and once stable, I did a front flip, back flip and barrel roll. Then I did a 360 and then a track. Then, I continued falling until I hit 4000' and pulled.

The canopy ride on the 230 square foot parachute was fun. I tried doing front riser dips, but didn't really notice any action. I was hanging out over the hills to the south east of the holding area until I got to about 1500', at which point I headed in to do my landing pattern. I did my downwind leg, but was moving too fast in the wind so I crabbed a bit to the south to burn some altitude before the base leg. A quick s-turn and I was on the base leg at just the right altitude. I was watching the cone in the middle of the landing area, and when I noticed it was starting to raise upward in my field of vision, I immediately turned into the wind and headed for the cone. I ended up landing about 10 feet away from it, which was probably the most accurate landing I've had.

Once I was back I started to pack my chute, but it was instantly confusing. I got everything right, but then realized I had forgotten to set the brakes. Then I was having trouble flaking. In the end, Jake helped me make sure I was doing things right. Just after I finally got the chute packed, I manifested myself on the next flight, but it looked like things were winding down thanks to a thick cloud bank that rolled in from the west. While waiting, I asked Blake if he'd seen my landing. Damn, he hadn't but he trusted my account. Since the requirement is to land within 20m/65' of a target, it is pretty hard to goof. He signed off on the past three jumps and also signed off on some other items. There's not much left to go now on my A-License application, and I'm going to try very hard to get it finished on the 28th.

2009-03-14 Jumps 20 & 21, packing class

I left the house early today because I wanted to get to Skydive San Diego as early as possible. I planned on doing at least four or five jumps. On the drive south, I remembered that it was the last day to take advantage of a airline mileage promotion for dining, so I stopped in at the Clair De Lune coffee shop in North Park and purchased a bunch of coffee to share with the instructors at SDSD.

I felt really good when I walked into Skydive San Diego with the coffee, and a few people were excited by the prospects of caffeine. I spoke with Vanessa about how to get the various items on my A License card signed off, as well as improving my landing accuracy. After our brief conversation, with several items signed off, I paid for some jumps and a day rental on the rig. I grabbed a 230 square foot rig and went to manifest and got myself on the next load. I had all of 5 minutes!

I ran over a gear check, got a jumpsuit, grabbed my helmet and gloves and put my altimiter on while running to the plane. Of course, there were several tandems that were late getting out to the runway, so, once I got out there, I had to wait. While waiting to get on the plane, I had the opportunity to talk with several other guys, one of whom is working on his A License too. We got ourselves organized into jump order. I positioned myself to be the third out the door, after two groups of two jumpers.

Jump 20
I watched as the previous two jumpers moved out of the way and then I dived into the flow of air just like I planned, except it didn't go exactly as I had planned. It seemed that as soon as I was out of the plane, I couldn't feel the air flow, and I didn't push into it with my hands, so I ended up flopping over onto my back. I quickly righted myself, and continued my jump. Once I was stable I did a 720 degree turn using the technique I had learned at the tunnel. It worked incredibly well, but I forgot to do the counter move to stop myself and overshot my target. More practice will be needed on that one.

My real purpose on this jump was to play with my fall rate, so after the 720, I slowed myself down considerably. The graph shows a solid, stable fall rate, so I know I was doing something. Of course, without any reference, like another jumper, it's hard to know how well I actually did.

The canopy was a 230 square foot deal, which puts the wingloading at somewhere over 1.1. I'm finding it to be a lot of fun, and while I'm not in a hurry to drop down to a smaller canopy, I wouldn't mind a bit more responsiveness. I figure I'll stick with the 230 until I feel really comfortable and can land it exactly where I want it and with finesse. My landing on jump 20 was really smooth and almost on target. I had aimed for the more westerly of the small blue tiles laying on the landing field, but I came down just past the first one.

Because of the funky winds, and my lack of experience, I was a bit affraid to go into 1/4 or 1/3 breaks to increase my glide to get me closer to my intended target. Anyway, the landing was smooth and soft. I took the chute to the packing barn and went about socializing and waiting for a repack. Ghoulie was kind enough to get the 230 packed and handed back to me, so I wouldn't have to jump a 260.

Clouds
After I got the chute back, I got myself manifested for load 6. Load 5 was on a 10 minute call, but then the clouds rolled in from the west and the wait was on. Things didn't look good. I sent a text message to my friend Audrienne to tell her to forget about coming for a jump. People were leaving left and right. I was chatting with Rocco and Jake, when Rocco recommended that we take off and do a BBQ. I had a chute packing class starting at 2pm, so I went looking for Tatoo Ron to find out if we could start the class early since no one was jumping. It was just about 1pm, so after a quick survey of class participants, it was decided to start at 1:30.

Packing Class
The packing class started with a quick demonstration of how a chute deploys and was then followed by a demonstration of how to pack the chute. After the packing demo, we were instructed to start packing our own parachute. I opened up my 230 and pulled everything out. Most of the tasks involved in packing are quite easy, so I got busy. But then it came to flaking, and that was a bit confusing because when we watched Ron, we saw it from one perspective, but with my own packing, I was looking from the opposite perspective, and things were a lot more confusing. The worse part was that I was apparently doing everything correctly but wasn't confident in what I was doing.

I ended up packing and unpacking the chute four times before I was absolutely certain I had done everything right. By this point, the sun was shining, and Ron said, "go jump it", so I got myself manifested on the next flight.

Jump 21
On the way out to the plane, one of the other packing class students was walking with me, commenting on how much anxiety he was feeling over jumping his first pack job. I was a bit suprised by how calm I felt inside me about jumping my pack job. I wasn't worried that it wouldn't work, none the less, I did go through the cut-away and reserve deployment procedure in my head several times as well as physically going through the motions.

We organized ourselves into jump order and then borded the plane. On the ride to altitude, I felt a little anxiety, but it was amorphous and not directed at any specific cause. It was just that "I'm going to jump out of an airplane" anxiety that is diminishing with each jump, but is still noticable. I was positioned to be second out the door after a group of four jumpers. I watched them in their fall until they were at the right location and I dove through the door. I ended up with some instability, but decided to just go with the roll and come out of it on the other side. It would have been nicer if I hadn't flipped, but going with the roll worked fine and I got stable really quickly.

I did some more flips and some 360 degree turns and some fall rate drills before finally getting to pull altitude. I pulled and the opening was so smooth that I thought something must be wrong. But it wasn't. The slider came down the lines and the chute was wide open, and the canopy was responsive.

On the canopy ride I went into some rear-riser turns, really whipping myself around. I had a really nice time, and the landing was right on target.

Party Time
Once I got down, I wanted to jump again, so I went about packing my chute. I just about got it into the bag when the last flight took off. Oh well...it was party time. I broke out some Chimay and shared it with Rocco and Jake. On my way out to the car to pick up another bottle of Chimay, I was pleasantly surprised to have Blake smile and wish me a good evening. Rocco invited Jake and I to his house for a BBQ. Another fellow, Brian, was invited and it turns out he's also vegetarian, so the two of us stopped in at Henry's to pick up some stuff for dinner and then headed to San Marcos. After chit-chats, more drinks, a show-and-tell involving very LARGE firearms, and a bag full of green cookie crumbs put on my plate, we settled in for dinner in front of the video screen. Rocco put on "True Romance" and the killing began. After the movie I wondered why I had such a dry mouth.

Looking Forward
While I didn't get as many jumps as I wanted, the day was absolutely perfect. I'm looking forward to the 28th of March when I'll go back to jump, and hopefully pound out my coach jumps and my A License exam and jump before the increase in license cost goes into effect.

2009-03-08 Jumps 16-19 at Skydive San Diego

Jump 16.
On Jump 16, I started the day by doing a diving exit. I got stable really quickly and then went into a good front flip and then a back flip. I then added a barrel roll. At that point I really had nothing to do but look around and fall. I wish I had loaded myself with some additional stuff to do. I still had a nice freefall. I was using the 230 square foot canopy which was faster and had better control plus a much smaller pack. The landing was a bit harder than I am capable of, but I at least ran it out. Divya from work joined in on this jump as a tandem.

Jump 17
I was the only fun jumper on the flight. I spotted the location, but wasn't clear that it was time to jump. Got prompted with "get out of the plane" which I promptly obeyed. I did a floating exit which went good. I was stable really quickly and then oriented myself relative to the runway below me. I then did a front flip, a back flip and a barrel roll and stayed on heading. I was feeling pretty good after that. I need to remember to arch a bit more because I started waffling a little bit.  The landing was very good.

Jump 18
After a mountain bike ride at Hollenbeck Canyon, I came back to do a few more jumps. On this jump I did a diving exit, but I was really unstable. I went with it and corrected. It was very cold and windy. The clouds had moved in, and I wasn't able to see make out the dropzone for some time. Once I figured out where I was, I tried a barrel roll, and a 360. I was just too cold, so mostly I just fell. The canopy ride was uneventful; I was back at the 260 because there were no 230's available.The landing was soft and smooth.

Jump 19
Another diving exit. I shouldn't have done this jump because I was so cold and tired. I tried to do some skills, but had neither the energy or ability, so I just fell. Once I pulled, I played with rear riser turns since I was back on the 230. I did a 720 degree carving turn and the G forces on me were quite strong. It was great fun. The landing was picture perfect, but short of where I had wanted to land.

2009-02-28 Jumps 12-15

It was a beautiful day when I looked out my window this morning. High whispy clouds added detail to a brilliant February blue sky. The sun was raising in the sky and I could tell it was going to be warm and the palm trees were gently swaying in a light breeze. But, the Weather Underground forcast for Jamul's "Pio Pico" called for weird winds out of the south and >30% cloud cover. Since Leucadia and Jamul have very different weather patterns, I called the dropzone to find out what the jump situation was like.

As seems to be normal for a Saturday morning, Sara answered the phone with her folksy good nature and friendliness. There's something about her voice that is titilating; without a doubt, her smile can be heard though the phone lines. The sweetness of hearing her voice was combined with the great news that the weather was absolutely perfect at Skydive San Diego.

I called Divya R. from work. She and her husband were planning to come out to do tandem jumps. I was excited that I was able to get someone else was interested in jumping, so when she said she was still on, and would meet me around 9am, I was really happy.

I rolled into SDSD at a minute before 9am and looked around for Divya and her husband, but they weren't there yet, so I grabbed my stuff from my car and went to wait near the office. There were only a few people hanging around at this hour. The first load had already gone up, and Sarah was giving the 15 minute call for the second load. That's when Divya and her husband showed up. Today was just going to be Divya jumping, so I got her going on the registration process and then after she was finished, I paid for an all-day rental and four jumps.

We were scheduled for load 4, so we hung around chatting for a little bit before one of the instructors started giving Divya the run-down on what she needed to do on her jump. I went and grabbed my gear and ran over the gear check. While Divya was getting harnessed up, I was approached by a young woman named Katie, who asked if I was interested in jumping with her. I explained that I'm doing C8 jumps and not allowed to jump with anyone, but it turns out she is a coach, going for her AFF instructor certification, so it was OK. She asked me what I was going to be doing on the jump, and since I hadn't planned on jumping with anyone, I changed the jump I had planned and decided I wanted to try the dive to dock exercise. She gave me a few tips on how to exit the plane and how the dive flow would go. We got the five minute call, so we geared up and headed out to the runway.

Jump 12
The plane wasn't terribly full, which was nice. Divya had that "I don't really know what to think, but this is exciting and I'm scared" look on her face--completely normal for a first time jumper. I felt a little scared too. I'm not certain why, but even Katie mentioned it when we were reviewing the jump. I suppose it was the prospect of doing something new and not getting it right with a bit of the "I'm going to jump out of an airplane." Katie got outside onto the camera flyer step and I got in the doorway. But everything was wrong. I didn't let go of the grip and I had my right foot forward even though I was going to jump toward the back of the plane. I didn't give a clear count indication (even though I thought I had). In any event, once I got stable, I tracked to Katie and docked. I then undocked, and we both backed up and then I docked again. We repeated that pattern several times until it was time to pull

The canopy ride down to earth was enjoyable with nice views of San Diego and the Pacific Ocean in the morning sun. My landing was good, but not as accurate as I had hoped. I met up with Divya, and she had a huge smile on her face. We chatted for a few minutes before she and her husband left to go take ski lessons. I then met up with Katie and we talked about the jump and how I could improve. I really appreciated her feedback and critique

Jump 13
I decided to wait around for a little while before going on my next jump. I filled out my logbook and then did some people-watching. Then I walked over to Gravity Gear to check out some jumpsuits. Bonnie was busy with a few other customers, so I looked at the used suits she had in stock and after not finding anything that I liked, I said I'd come back later. I sat around for a little while and then managed to grab an instructor to ask a few questions. Then, I went to Manifest and gave Sarah one of my flight coupons. I roamed around for a little while, chatting with a few people before getting my gear. I was jumping a 259 square foot canopy again, and after the gear check, I got myself ready to go. While hanging around waiting for the 5 minute call, I struck up a conversation with a guy named Doug who was trying to finish his A-license today. However, he didn't have the Skydiver Information Manual with him, so he didn't have any way to study the appropriate information he'd need for his test, so I told him he could borrow the sections I had in the car.

On this jump, the plane was filled with tandem jumpers and students, so I ended up having to sit on the floor at the back of the plane. Once again, a new situation introduced a bit of trepidation on my part, but I soon got over it. This jump was only to 10K feet because of air traffic, so we got to jump altitude fairly quickly. Two groups of two jumpers went, and then it was my turn. I waited until the last group of divers were out of the way and then I dove through the door.

On this jump, my plan was to do some flips and tracking. I managed a really good backflip, but my front flip ended on my back again. I easily fliped over and did some tracking. By that time I was at 4500' and pulled. The canopy ride was pleasant, and even though I undershot the place where I wanted to land, I had a good smooth and soft landing.

Jump 14
After waiting around again for about a half hour and chatting with Rocco, I went and visited with Bonnie to talk about jump suits. I had kind of decided that I didn't want to get a jump suit because I was more than happy to just use the SDSD jumpsuits since they didn't cost me anything. Still, the idea of having my own suit was drawing me in, so I started asking her some questions. She asked me what type of jumping I was interested in: Relative Work or Freeflying. I wasn't really able to answer the question because I haven't had any opportunity to do either. Freeflying is probably a bigger draw to me because of the format, and as someone wrote in an article I had recently read, "Relative Work is work." On the other hand, another article I read mentioned that the skills learned in Relative Work create stronger Freeflyers. Bonnie's suggestion was to have one of each type of suit. Of course, at >$300 per suit, I have to think hard about whether I really want to do that. Fortunately, Bonnie said that if I want to freefly, I can start to do that in street clothes until I get good and then get a freefly suit. We then started talking about RW suits. She mentioned the benefit of buying one from a company that's not distant because of shipping times and the strong potential of needing to return the suit because of incorrect workmanship. She then asked me about my fall rate. I mentioned my speed based on what I get out of my Pro-Track jump computer, but she didn't understand the correlation and said I needed to ask one of the instructors about how my fall rate compares with other jumpers as that would determine what sort of fit I would need on the suit. I mentioned I had jumped with Katie in the morning and she said I should ask her, as well as getting some more jumps under my belt before I invest in a suit.

I then went and got myself manifested for the next load, grabbed a rig and got ready. Rocco and some of his buddies were going to be on the load too, and he asked me what I was planning for the jump. I wanted to do a floating exit and then practice the flips again. I was to be one of the first jumpers again based on my positioning in the plane, and this time were were going all the way to 13,000 feet. When it was my turn, I spotted to make certain that the previous jumpers were out of the way and that we were still over the correct location to jump. I then got out of the plane and did a "floating" exit that was really more of a bad sideways hop. The instability took me some time to control. I then did my flips, and then went into a track that was fast and furious. The canopy ride was nice and the landing smooth and soft.

Jump 15
After filling out my log book, I met Rocco. He immediately commented on the poor "floating" exit and showed me how to do it correctly. Wow, that should be much easier! No hop, just present myself to the wind and float off the plane. I got myself manifested on the next flight and went to get some gear. I wanted to downsize my canopy a bit, but the 230 square foot canopies were all in use. So, I went with the 259 again. On this jump I was going to be on the second Twin Otter, and there were only about 8 of us, so there was plenty of room for a comfortable ride. When we got to 13,000 feet, a group of 3 jumpers went and then it was my turn. I waited until they were out of the way and then I positioned myself for a floating exit. This time I simply floated out of the plane and I was stable immediately.

The freefall was fun. I did a back flip, and then another, and then I did a front flip and this time I went all the way over! Then I did some tracking and pulled at around 4500'. The landing was smooth and soft.

I really wanted to do another jump, and Katie approached me and offered to do another jump with me, but at that point money was more of an issue than anything else. I figured I could do another jump today, but that would reduce the number of jumps I could do next Sunday, so I decided to wait.

Jump 15 Fall Rate Profile

First C8

I rented my gear for the next jump and got my manifest ticket which I took to Sarah and got myself on a load 38 minutes later. I could have gone earlier, but I didn't want to rush it.

After hanging around for a while, buying a new log book and getting some water and food, I grabbed my own personal gear out of the car-my helmet, gloves and altimeters. Then grabbed my rental parachute. I flew a 260 sq. ft. main again, which is what I've been flying through AFF. I want to get really good at flying it before I start moving down in size. I am amazed at the smallness of some of the parachutes the instructors are flying. They are almost closer to kites than parachutes! With the gear in hand I did a gear check. Everything looked good. So, I suited up and went to wait. I started a conversation with a fellow named Josiah who was also doing his first C8 jump. We went through what we wanted to do on our jumps and then did a gear check for each other.

The ride up to 12.2K took a while. I was glad that I was going to be one of the first out of the plane because I didn't want to have to really spot the jump location or be the one to tell the pilot to circle back. The first group exited and I waited until they were visible at a 45 degree angle from my vantage point. I then did a poised exit and got myself stable.

My plan for this jump was to just jump. Maybe do some turns, but just to experience everything for the first time on my own. I had a few moments of instability, but just arched a bit more and everything was fine. I noticed that I was not really over the holding area so I turned and tracked until I was in a familiar location. I think for the first time, because I wasn't doing anything, I got to see what my surroundings looked like. I looked at the lake and the hills and then just locked onto my altimeter and watched it.

Then the alarms started going off on my audibles. I had set them for higher altitudes, but since this was my first time using them, I figured I could just see how they worked but still pull at 4500'. It's probably not a good idea to have two different audibles because the competing beeps was very nerve wracking, and I definately wanted to pull. So, I ended up pulling at 5500'.

I was still really excited about my first solo jump, and the ride down went smoothly. I had a soft but falling landing.

I walked off the field proud that I had made my first solo jump. It was a great feeling.

AFF7 Passed

I couldn't sleep for much of the night. I kept thinking about yesterday's poorly executed back flips and front flips, being stuck on my back falling at 144mph/230kph, and how the whole thing was caused by a complete lack of kinesthetic awareness. I was beating myself up all night for not doing what I had been trained to do. Then, I was beating myself up for not letting go of the stress and getting some good sleep so that I'd be well rested and prepared to today's jumps. So, around 5:30, I finally decided that the best thing I could do was get out of bed and get myself ready to go.

I looked out the window of my kitchen and it looked gray. The weather forecast had been suggesting around 50% cloud cover, but here in Leucadia, it was a lot more than that. On the other hand, it was still before sunrise, and Leucadia is often cloudy when other nearby locations are bright and sunny. So, I headed off to the office to check the computer. The forecast hadn't changed, but the report said it was clear and cold in Jamul.

At 8am, I called Skydive San Diego to find out if they were jumping, and I got an affirmative. I called Patrick J. and Divya R., two coworkers, to tell them that the jump was on. Patrick was excited and said he'd meet me there at 10. Divya, unfortunately, told me her husband was sick, and that she didn't want to go without him, so I wished her a good weekend and healing for her husband, and got off the phone.

I managed to get to Skydive San Diego just after 10. Steve, my CMG buddy, was also supposed to be there, as he was taking his AFF2 class, and Patrick was waiting by the office. I didn't find Steve anywhere, so I got Patrick all registered up, and got myself registered to retake AFF7. I decided I'd wait for my class until two loads after Patrick had done his jump so that I could take some pictures of him as he was landing. I had forgotten my camera in my computer bag which I had brought with me yesterday, but he had his iPhone, so he gave that to me and I went about clicking pictures. Then I saw Steve, who told me he had already done his jump, and had failed (sounds familiar...) I tried to encourage him to jump again, but he was worried about finances, so we just chatted while we waited for Patrick to return to the ground.

I had asked his instructor about the color of the chute, so I as soon as I saw the chutes in the sky, I started taking pictures. As Patrick landed, I noticed he was looking a little green, but he seemed ok. After talking with him, it turns out he was fine during freefall, but the carving corkscrew turns under canopy had made his stomach complain.

Patrick and Steve bid their fairwells, and soon after I was called by the instructor for my jump. We went over what I had done wrong on the previous AFF7 jump and on what I needed to do to have a successful jump. I felt confident that I would be able to do the flips without issue, and tracking and turns wouldn't be a problem for me. We went over the gear check, with me doing everything required without prompting. I suited up and put my rig on and waited for the call.

The ride up to 13,000'/4000m was uneventful. I got the usual quiz on hand signals and I watched as my altimeter rode its way upward. I'm trying to get an idea of what the gound looks like at different altitudes, but it's difficult when I'm in the plane because there's no good way to see outside. It will probably be better in the summer when I'll have the opportunity to be near or in the back and able to see out the door from a relatively close position. When we reached the spot, a group of four jumpers who had requested an early gree light went out the door together. They were followed by several others in smaller groups. Finally, it was my turn. I stuck my head out of the plane to spot that we were in a good jump location, and then got in position for the floating exit.

This time I was on the side of the door closest to the pilot, so I wasn't cramped for space as I had been on yesterday's attempt. I signaled OK then went through the step move and voila, I was out of the plane. I quickly got stable and then went into a front flip. For some reason I don't think I threw myself into it enough because I ended up on my back again. This time, I arched, and flipped right over. I then went to the backflip, which I nailed. It felt really good, and I nailed the restabilization too which felt awsome. I then did a turn to get into a northern direction for the track. Once I was stable in that direction, I started my track. I tracked for several seconds and then the instructor dropped down and called me forward. I kept tracking as he backed up. Then when we were done he went into a sit-flying position and transitioned to a higher position relative to me. I tried the move I learned while in the tunnel, but just as I did that I realized we were at 6000ft and I locked on and then pulled at 5000ft.

The canopy ride down was great. I had been informed to move to a specific location for my holding area to make room for an AFF 3 student. So, I flew the canopy south east from the normal holding area and hung out there checking out the different terrain and view. When the time came, I moved into position for the downwind leg of the landing pattern. At 500 ft. I did the base leg and then at 200 ft I went upwind and had a nice soft 3 step landing.

Everything about this jump felt awesome. I wish I had been able to do a forward flip, but I got myself out of it without any problem, so that was still OK. Really, the only thing that didn't feel good about the jum was that having to pay again for the class meant I didn't have the money for 3 C8 (solo) jumps. I guess it just means I have to deal with delayed gratification as I wait until the next influx of money.

The instructor's comments were all positive about the jump, so I passed. Now, though I have an added expense: I owe beer.

2009-02-20 AFF5, AFF6 and AFF7

I needed a mental health day, which my boss kindly ceeded to me.  With the day off and secure that my finances could handle the stress testing, thanks to receiving my bonus check today, I headed off to Skydive San Diego. The sky was clear and the sun bright as I arrived around 11am. I headed first to Gravity Gear to buy some gloves and then headed over to pay for my jumps. With my credit card swiped and my signature on the waiver, I started the wait for my name to be called. It only took a few minutes before Vanessa called my name.

AFF5
We went over AFF5 which includes 360 degree turns and re-docking. I was pretty secure in my ability to accomplish those skills, but it was good to practice them. Vanessa also went over the gear check with me, which was good because I learned a lot about how everything works and what to look for when checking the gear. The gear check is actually pretty easy, but definately one of those things that needs to be methodically done.

The ride to altitude was pretty cramped and we ended up having to circle back just before our jump because we had gone too far past the dropzone. I was wearing both my mechanical altimeter and my new Newton 2 digital altimeter. Since I had never seen the Newton 2 in action, I wanted to make certain that there would be no surprises. However, on the ride up, Vanessa asked some of the other instructors about it, and while one said it wasn't an issue, another said he wouldn't allow it. So, playing conservative, I had to take it off and Vanessa stuck it in her pocket. I was kind of bummed, but oh well, there'll be plenty of opportunities to use it.

I had to spot, which entailed sticking my head out the door of the plane to ensure we were over the dropzone. It was kind of scary at first, but once I got used to it, I was fine. The exit from the plane was not the one I'd done up to this point. Instead, it was a poised exit, without holding onto the door frame. The exit went well, and it didn't take long before I was stable and Vanessa let go of me. I went into my turns and then the docking, and it all seemed to go very well. I was a little under aware of altitude for a while, but got back on track quickly enough. As usual, I locked my gaze onto the altimiter at 6000'/1850m and waved off and pulled at 5000'/1540m.

The canopy ride down was comfortable and enjoyable. When I got down to the ground, I felt like I flared a bit too soon, so I prepared for a PLF (Parachute Landing Fall). I was about 6'/2m off the ground when the chute stalled, so I went into a roll. All went well with the PLF, and I grabbed the chute and headed back to the packing barn with a big smile on my face.

AFF6
As soon as Vanessa had signed my logbook, I headed into the office to get myself hooked up for AFF6. I was pleased that I was going to be jumping with Vanessa again because she takes her time and makes certain that I practice the skills several times on the ground. This jump was an unassisted poised exit which meant that no one was holding on to me. I helped spot the jump location and when we were at the target, I got in the door, signaled OK, and jumped. I had to do a back flip, which I completely flubbed, but the idea is less about doing a perfect flip and more about being able to get stable after being in an unstable position. I was falling back to the earth, but flipped myself over without any problems. I tried the back flip again, but still wasn't able to get it. So, I went into the tracking (horizontal movement) and did that well. I tracked several times and then at 6K I locked onto my altimeter and at 5K, I waved off and pulled. The ride down was uneventful and the landing was softer, but I still wasn't able to stand up or run it out.

AFF7
I switched instructors for AFF7 to Shawn, who, while being a really nice and friendly guy, doesn't take the same amount of time to go over skills. With him, it's more about dive flow than about the skills, but I still felt confident that I'd pass this level and be on to C-8 jumps. The skills for this jump were forward summersault, backward summersault, 360 degree turn and tracking. After briefly showing me how to do a forward summersault, and going over the dive flow several times, I geared up and we headed out to the plane. On the ride up, I had been asked to tell him what I would do at various altitudes without prompting, and I did so. The exit on this jump was new to me. It was what is called a 'floating exit' and entails standing with the body out of the plane while holding on to the bar just inside the door. Then, in a move reminiscent of a 'step class' at the gym, taking a step backwards while simultaneously turning the body to orient into the relative wind. This exit, like AFF6, was unassisted, and all I can say is that I forgot the whole arch thing and was very unstable. I managed to get on my back again, but it was very difficult to get back on my belly for some reason that I learned about later was because of my lack of arch. I checked my altitude and started into the dive flow: forward summersault. But I ended up on my back again, and no try as hard as I could, I couldn't get turned over for quite some time. When I finally got back on my belly, I tried the backward summersault, and once again ended up on my back. By this time, I had lost a lot of time and altitude, so the freefall part was almost over. I locked on the altimeter and pulled at 5K. The ride under canopy was uneventful and the landing was perfect. Unfortunately, I didn't pass, and have to redo level 7. I'll be going out again tomorrow with some friends from work, so I hope to pass it then and get on to a C-8 jump.

2009-01-31 Belated Birthday Skydive Party - AFF3 & AFF4

I hit up the Pannikin for some tea and a sweet and then headed over to pick up Peregrine. While I was there, various discussions happened, and it was soon determined that it was best for him to drive on his own so that neither of us were hung up on the other's alternate schedule. It was silly on a fuel consumption basis, but it made a lot of sense on a logistical basis since I was planning on doing two jumps which I estimated would have be leaving around 2pm.

So, we jumped in our respective cars and drove to Skydive San Diego in Jamul. Along the way, I received a text message from Hanh to tell me that she was running a bit late and would be there around 10.  When I arrived, at just about 9, I was greeted by my buddy Steve. Peregrine was already getting registered for his jump and after a few moments of greetings with Steve, I headed in to get registered for AFF3.

There's a certain level of chaos that goes on at Skydive San Diego. Everything seems to work fairly smoothly, but it seems like there are things that fall through the cracks. In any event, for the first jump of the day, this time, the chaos was managed well.

Since Steve had arrived earlier than the rest of us, he had already gotten himself signed up and was manifested on the second load. Perigrine and I got manifested on load three, and Hanh, who arrived just about 10, got manifested on load four. It worked out nicely because it allowed pictures to be taken of everyone.

While I was registering for my jump, I encountered the DZ owner, Brent, and mentioned to him that I had spent time in the tunnel at Perris. He immediately started to badmouth the operation there, saying that they didn't turn the wind speed up to real conditions. Therefore, he speculated that I had wasted my money and time, and should have gone to the tunnel in Hollywood.


I had a few minutes to talk with Steve before his instructors called him away. He seemed to be very much at ease. He said he had gone through the jump about a million times in his head over the past week since he took his ground school. We bid him good luck and watched him head out with his two flight instructors to the plane.

When he finally came back to earth, it was just about time for me to head out to the plane, so I didn't really get a chance to talk to him about his jump. Even though his landing was a bit hard, he had a big smile and had that look of "I want to do that again!"

I was suited up and ready to go at that point, and Hanh grabbed the camera and started to snap some pictures before I was escorted to the plane by my instructors. I was feeling very confident that I would do well while at the same time uncertain of myself because of the comments made by Brent regarding the tunnel. In any event, I demonstrated to my instructors what I was going to do on the jump and after some initial confusion as to who was going to be my jump instructors, I headed out to the plane. Peregrine was on this load as well, so he was in the group, but as seems to be the case this early in my jumping career, I was so focused on my jump that I hardly noticed him. I'm sure it was the same for him, but he seemed to be fairly stress free.

The climb to 13000 feet seemed to take forever, but when we got there, I was really ready to go. When it was my turn, I got into position in the doorway with my instructors holding on to either side of me. I did my checks with the instructors, and then just recited and acted "prop, down, arch".

This was the first time that no one shook me to relax, so I felt good about that. I performed my altitude check and practice handle touch. In no time at all, I noticed out of my peripheral vision that the instructors had let go of me and I was flying on my own. At some point I noticed that I was turning, so I refixed my heading and stuck to it. I continued to perform altitude checks and at 6000' I locked onto my altimeter and at 5500', I waved off and threw my pilot chute.

The canopy flight was pleasant and smooth right up until the very end. Because there was almost no wind, my upwind section was at a much steeper angle than I had ever experienced before. As a result, I flared a bit too late and had a somewhat hard landing, sliding on my butt.

After I landed, Hanh headed out to the plane and before I knew it, she was gone. Peregrine, Steve and I chatted for a while about our jumps. Peregrine then bid us farewell and Steve and I continued to chat. Before long, Hanh was back on the ground, all smiles about her jump. We all chatted for a bit and then the two of them also left, and I went to register for my AFF4 jump.

While I was waiting to find out which load I was going to be on for AFF4, I stopped by the Gravity Gear store, and purchased a helmet, analog altimeter, sun glasses and an audible altimeter/digital logbook. After a bunch of time, I headed back to check on which load I was on, but I couldn't find myself on any manifest. So, I went to inquire at the manifest window about what was happening.

It appears this was one of those places where things, in this case, me, fell through the cracks. After getting everything squared away, and giving myself enough time to figure out how to use my new audible altimeter, I finally met my AFF4 instructor: A fellow by the name of Nix White. He was an affable man, who just today had officially retired from the Marine Corps. He'd been jumping for 14 years. We shot the breeze for a while, went over the jump and then I learned that I wouldn't be able to use my own helmet because it didn't have a way to connect the radio. So, I grabbed my audible altimeter from the ear pad, stuck it in my pocket and stored the helmet in my car. We then proceeded to the practice area where I showed him my turns and then we got the call to head to the plane.

I was in the third group to leave the plane at 13,200'. The first group of two were fun jumpers. The second group was a fellow doing a coached jump for his A license, and then came Nix and I. I went to the door, got into position, checked in with Nix, and then jumped.

I immediately felt stable in the wind and after an altitude check and a practice handle touch Nix let go and moved out in front of me. I then proceeded to perform 90 degree turns. First to the left and then back to the right. I felt really good, and at one point I wanted to just do a 360! (but I knew that would probably get me a fail, so I just did the 90-degree turns.

7000' seemed to take quite a while to reach as I was somewhat bored with just doing turns, but when it did, I stopped my turns. Then as usual, I locked on to my altimeter at 6000' and at 5500' I waved off and pulled. I felt really good about the freefall, and while I was under the canopy, I let out a hoot of excitement.

The canopy ride was pleasant, and thanks to some wind out of the west, the upwind approach was much more gradual. As I came in, I flared at just the right moment and landed softly on my feet.

I ended up being on an adrenaline high for the rest of the day, and wished that I had enough money to just do the rest of my AFF jumps. But, those will come in short order, hopefully by the 21st of Feb.